ABOUT THIS ALBUM

Album Notes

DRIVE IT...A NEW URBAN JAZZ CLASSIC

New Urban jazz artist Plunky follows up his nationally acclaimed hit “Drop” with Drive It, a new 14-song CD album of pipin\' hot dance music, funk, jazz and Go-Go. The hour-long disc revs it up, puts it in gear and stomps on the gas. Destination...the dance floor of the hottest spots in the city for the real grown and sexy.

The CD takes off with the up tempo title song “Drive It,” a hypnotic instrumental groove with classic hit potential amongst urban radio and club audiences alike. Next, Plunky brings back a 80\'s inspired Euro-retro-dance sound with “Gotta Keep Moving,” followed by the horn driven party starter “Every Way But Loose,” a remake of his 1982 release, which charted in both the US and London. Plunky also pays homage to the Mid-Atlantic Go-Go sound with a medley of DC flavored songs like “Life – You’re Full Of It” and “A Swing In Everything.” In addition to jazzed out instrumentals there are also funkafied teasers like “Toy Box”, which is playful and risqué ala Cameo; and, “Synchrofunkinicity,” a Parliamentonic diatribe with a nasty low end.

Drive It is a musical voyage of rhythmic styles: vocal and instrumental; smooth but pumped up; diverse yet consistently moving… This album is chock full of strong grooves destined to become urban radio and club faves.

Nationally syndicated radio host Michael Baisden and other urban and jazz deejays made Plunky’s “Drop” the urban-contemporary jazz song of 2007. Drive It will solidify Plunky’s place in the forefront of the new urban music scene. Plunky is already planning an East Coast promotional tour this summer and has booked fall festival dates in the US and Europe, including a return to the Capital Jazz Festival, in addition to highly anticipated club dates in his hometown of Richmond, VA.

Plunky has released 25 albums in his 40-year career. Drive It proves he knows how to shift gears and keep it moving.

J. PLUNKY BRANCH BIOGRAPHY

Saxophonist J. Plunky Branch is an experienced performer, songwriter and music and film producer, and he is president of N.A.M.E. Brand Records, through which he has released 25 albums. At one time Plunky was a studio musician for television\'s top-rated sitcom, \"The Cosby Show. His song “Every Way But Loose” was a top-ten soul music chart hit in London in the 1980’s. He has appeared on avant-garde jazz albums by Pharaoh Sanders, Hamiett Bluiett and others. Nowadays Plunky spends his time leading his bandmates onstage playing rousing funk, R&B, jazz, African, reggae, gospel and rap and making music in his recording studio.

Plunky’s European tours have taken him to England, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. He twice toured Ghana, West Africa, once for the Ghana National Commission on Children, and again as a cultural specialist for the U.S. Information Agency. Recently he has performed in Paris, explored music business opportunities in Japan; traveled to Brazil; and to Cuba twice to research and produce music recordings and a documentary film, Under the Radar – A Survey of Afro-Cuban Music. His latest releases are the new CD Drive It, a nationally acclaimed CD Cold Heat and his DVD Plunky & Oneness of Juju - Live In Paris.
With his group, Plunky & Oneness, he has opened shows for Patti Labelle, Ray Charles, Earth Wind & Fire, Yellow Jackets, and Frankie Beverly & Maze, LL Cool J, and more. Plunky & Oneness performed at the New Orleans World’s Fair, the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta (four times) and twice at the Hampton Jazz Festival in his native Virginia. For more than 15 years Plunky has toured continually with support from the Virginia Commission for the Arts (VCA).

Plunky’s career accomplishments are as varied as his music and his diverse interests, which include: African art and culture, history, digital technology, politics and the media. In addition to being a veteran saxophonist and composer, J. Plunky Branch has served as an administrator, lecturer and teacher. He has been a frequent arts panelist for the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). Plunky is a two-time recipient of NEA Jazz Fellowships and he was appointed to the Governor’s Task Force for the Promotion of the Arts in Virginia. He has been Director of the Jazz Ensemble at Virginia Union University as well as an instructor of Afro-American Music History at Virginia Commonwealth University, both in Richmond.

Recognized by Richmond Magazine as Musician of the Year for 1999, Plunky is a sought after artist-in-residence and performer for public schools systems. He has written film scripts, journals of his travels, poems and over 200 songs.

Throughout his career Plunky has entertained and taught thousands, and in the process, has developed a broad and loyal following. During his 1987 West African tour, critics proclaimed Plunky \"one of the greatest living saxophonist!\" In a context where rhythm, ritual, power and emotion reign supreme, he just might be!

The high priest of funk is in the house… meet Plunky! That’s Plunky Branch… performer, songwriter, music and film producer and president of N.A.M.E. Records. You may already know Plunky & Oneness as they have recorded 25 albums since 1973 and toured extensively throughout Europe and Africa. Plunky’s song “Every Way But Lose” was a Top 10 smash in London. This talented entrepreneur was even a studio musician for the popular TV sensation, The Cosby Show! Plunky’s credentials are deep, just check the bio on PlunkyOne.com. Deeper still are the phat grooves and thick rhythms of DRIVE IT. Smooth Jazz fans will relish in the richness of songs like “More Than Meets The Eye” and “Where There Is Love” featuring Plunky on saxophone and those of us who like a little attitude with a groove will move to this collection of riveting tunes including “A Swing In Everything” and “Life – You’re Full Of It.” Get Plunky’s DRIVE IT and get going!